July 03, 2007

Balsamic Green Beans

Directions:Bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil the green beans about 2 minutes then blanch them in ice water. Meanwhile, whisk together the balsamic, oil and garlic to make the dressing. Drain the beans, toss with the dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

* I was excited to see purple "green" beans at the farmers market and bought them and some regular beans. Then I got home and remembered that they don't stay purple after you cook them-the turn the same green as the regular ones. Still tasty, though!

My thoughts:

This is a simple, simple recipe that I like to make this time of year with the freshest, sweetest green beans. It can be thrown together in a just a few minutes, is good served hot or cold, travels well and even the leftovers are tasty. I ate a whole plate of them last night and kind of wanted more. It is good made with shallots, too or even green onions.

7 comments:

Those "purple" green beans are the ones we always fixed at my grandparents' house. We would sit around and snap them after Papa had picked them. We spread newspaper on the floor for the ends and put the good stuff in a collander for easy washing! This looks really good. I'll have to get some green beans soon and try it.

Oh, I've been fooled by the purple beans too. One year I wanted to make some dilly bean pickles so I carefully sorted green, yellow and purple bean and packed them carefully in stripes and spirals in my glass jars....and then I poured hot brine on them and they all immediately turned the same color of puke green....so much for creativity in the kitchen....